Undefeated, undisputed: West Holmes wins outright OCC title, improves to 10-0
No Sam Williams-Dixon, no problem.
Resting its star running back, West Holmes completed its second straight perfect regular season, pummeling Mount Vernon 49-14 to wrap up a second straight 10-0 season and a third straight Ohio Cardinal Conference championship.
Senior Mason Wolfe threw for more than 300 yards and five touchdowns, matching the single-season record of 34 by Bridger Cline in carrying the Knights to their 22nd straight regular season victory.
West Holmes built a 28-7 lead at intermission, scoring twice in the first quarter, and tacking on two more touchdowns in the second.
Senior running back Owen Jeffries got the scoring started with a one-yard scoring plunge at 9:47 of the opening frame.
Wolfe threw three first-half touchdown passes, a pair to Kyle Maltarich of 32 and 23 yards, and a 12-yard strike to Zevin Proper.
The Yellow Jackets scored with 2:30 remaining in the first half to cut the lead to 21-7. Quarterback Joel Hubbard scored on a two-yard run, capping a 14-play, 74-yard drive that took more than eight minutes off the clock in the second quarter.
Mount Vernon had a shot at a score on its opening possession of the third quarter, when West Holmes muffed a punt, deep in their territory,
Maltarich intercepted a pass near the goal line and returned it to the Mount Vernon 21, from where it took the Knights three plays to score, Wolfe hitting Nate Fair with a 13-yard touchdown pass for a 35-7 advantage.
A six-yard scoring strike from Wolfe to Logan Zollars matched the single-season touchdown pass record of Bridger Cline with his 34th TD toss for a 42-7 lead.
Wolfe finished the game completing 19-of-26 passes for 303 yards and five touchdowns.
Zach Shepler tacked on a two-yard touchdown run for a 49-7 advantage for the Knights' final tally. Nick Ginsburg was a perfect 7-for-7 on conversion kicks.
Mount Vernon scored in the waning seconds on a one-yard run by Hubbard.
Wolfe connected with six different receivers. Leading the way was freshman Lynn Cline with three catches for 73 yards. Proper caught five for 66 and Zollars snared three for 69 and Fair finished with four catches for 41 yards. Maltarich grabbed three for 64 yards and two scores, all in the first half.
Elisha Baldridge led the ground attack with 72 yards on seven carries. He also caught a pass for another 16, along with another stellar night on the defensive side of things.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Football: West Holmes finishes regular season undefeated
